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On December 13, 2012, the Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission (the
"Commission") issued two historic preservation municipal infraction
citations to Spaw, LLC, the owner of apartments at 2 Maryland Avenue in
Annapolis, alleging that Spaw replaced historic wood windows with vinyl windows
without a Certificate of Approval from the Commission. The District Court of
Maryland found in favor of the City of Annapolis (the "City"), and
Spaw appealed the decision to the Circuit Court of Maryland for Anne Arundel
County. In answers to interrogatories, Spaw admitted to replacing nine or ten
historic wood windows with vinyl windows without prior approval by the
Commission, as required by law. Based on this admission, the circuit court
granted summary judgment to the City. The Court of Appeals granted cert. and affirmed.

Spaw argued that historic preservation proceedings are criminal in nature,
rather than civil, which would affect certain substantive rights as well as
discovery issues. However, the Court of Appeals held that based on State law
and the Annapolis City Code, historical preservation municipal infraction
proceedings are civil matters and are governed by the civil rules of procedure.
The Court further ruled that the citation that wooden windows had been replaced
with vinyl ones at a particular address and the date that the violation was
observed was sufficient without stating the number of affected windows or the
date that the replacements occurred.

The Court held that neither of the two statutes of limitations that Spaw cited
applied. The City withdrew the possibility of a fine before the case was tried
at the circuit court, leaving abatement of the infraction as the only remedy. Therefore,
(i) because abatement is not a penalty, the one-year statute of limitations
does not apply; (ii) because the action of the City was in connection with the
exercise of a governmental function, the three-year statute of limitations does
not apply; and (iii) because the City did not tarry in issuing the citations
after the violations were observed, the doctrine of laches did not apply.

The views expressed in this document are solely the views of the author and not Martindale-Hubbell. This document is intended for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case or circumstance.

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